


Walk the Earth

by StreakingHerculobus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Dark Hermione Granger, Pureblood Hermione Granger, Pureblood Society (Harry Potter), Slytherin Hermione Granger, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:27:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26899660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StreakingHerculobus/pseuds/StreakingHerculobus
Summary: Hermione, displaced in time, grapples with a new existence and a new identity. A Magic is waiting, but first she must adapt to the changes or be destroyed.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	1. Another Wasted Day

**Author's Note:**

> Forgive the way this chapter jumps around.

Terrifying days had gone past, and in their wake, a hardening indifference. While Harry and Ron were so motivated in their pursuit of justice, she was fretting over their well-being. Not only that, but they had the nerve to criticize her moderation while she worked overtime to forge their homework. 

Meanwhile Harry only had eyes for Cho Chang, a smart girl with the certification to prove it unlike Hermione. But Cho Chang was also a seeker (never mind that she was mediocre at best), so she and Harry shared something in common. Hermione frankly was surprised that Asian fever could even penetrate such an insular society as the British wizarding community, and she wondered if it’d make for a good thesis.

Then there was Ron who was hard pressed not to be snogging Lavender in any public setting. The more Hermione thought about it, the more she realized she was relegated to a position as Harry and Ron’s donkey despite being friends.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, their schooling was still under the thumb of that horrid Umbridge woman. If there was one thing that could absolutely incur fierce rebellion in a bookworm like her, it would be flagellation of her education by self-serving bureaucrats. Hermione experienced first hand the failure known as partisanship when her schoolwork was downplayed in comparison to the Slytherins, even Pansy’s of all dunces. Snape, it could be said, was a fairer educator, just given the fact he treated everyone equally stupid.

Disposing of the excitable matron had not been exactly soothing. For the walk down to the forest, she knew that her life was at risk as well. The centaurs were quite indiscriminate in their justice. Hermione counted on just being able to run faster than Umbridge as the wisdom goes. As to the deviousness of her plot, Hermione wondered it if could be construed as conspiracy to commit murder. She was fairly sure in muggle court it would qualify, but in wizarding court there was no such thing. Magical people were much more literal creatures.

To put the icing on the cake there was that fateful trip to the Ministry that Hermione repeatedly advised against. On top of all the other warnings Harry and Ron received from her over the course of the year on their unflagging skullduggery. 

To everyone’s surprise but hers, the prophecy had been a trap. She resisted the urge to tell them “I told you so” which was still hard while facing off with Lucius and Bellatrix.

As the hero of the story traded barbs with the antagonists, her mind worked double time to concoct a way out of their predicament. As with most of her plans lately, it boiled down to fleeing on foot. 

After making it to a temporarily safe place, apparently, her plan had boiled down to every man for himself because Neville and Luna were not with them.

Naturally, they agreed to go back to get them, and that’s when things went awry.

* * *

The incident was still a blur. Things occurred too quickly to keep track. That’s the way it is when your adrenaline is pumping so hard. Her brain went on autopilot, or maybe she was just numb as it happened.

She remembers an errant spell, Ron shoving her out of its path, then a combustion of air. She was thrown back by the wave, feet entirely leaving the ground, feeling as if she was just hit by a freight truck. Sand poofed everywhere, forcing everyone to shield their eyes. 

At the conclusion of the commotion, while the sand fell like light snow, the center of the room beckoned everyone with its display. Hermione was frozen in air, prostrate towards the ceiling, her body stuck in the fashion in which she had been falling. Gold flecks littered her clothes and skin. 

Harry, realizing the seriousness of the situation before Ron, approached his friend slowly. He winced at her expression, marked by surprise, her eyes wide open, lips a touch apart. Aside from that, the sight was almost peaceful, the glittering sand from the exploded time turners also suspended in air. 

The death eater, Dolohov, Harry thought, had been taken care of in the explosion. Remus, having heard the commotion, shortly arrived to reinforce their position, along with the rest of the Order.

Everyone who entered found themselves distracted by the accident. Remus, Nymphadora. You could see the immediate sadness in their eyes. The Order members did not stay long, however, as they went on to help Dumbledore, who had arrived soon after, capture the rest of the death eaters. But Dumbledore’s Army stayed by Hermione and protected the room. 

Finally, Moody and Shacklebolt, shuffled in, having been made aware of the incident by Tonks. Dumbledore followed them, having just battled off Voldemort himself.

“I will contact our head Unspeakable. We will fix this,” Kingsley declared.

“No need.”

They all glanced around, looking for the source, but the voice continued, clueing them in on its location. It was a portrait on the wall of a professional looking older woman. “She’s gone now. What you see is just an after-image, a scar on the fabric of reality. Probably will never go away. Or do you really think it’s possible to stop time in a local space?”

* * *

Callum Selwyn was a surprise to all, including herself, when boarding the Hogwarts Express. To her knowledge she did not exist, and from the others’ reactions she should not.

However, after completing a survey of all the cars, the girl she once was, Hermione Granger, was not present. From the explanation of the circumstances which wrought Callum, the former bookworm and brightest witch of her age had been erased in an act of equivalent exchange.

She decided to find Harry Potter in a desperate bid for some familiarity. She was pleased to find him in the same place, along with Ron, who was sneering at her. Hermione absently smoothed the hem of her green robes. “Hello boys.” She found herself thinking back to the thousands of times she began with that same greeting. “Might I have a seat?”

Harry Potter nodded numbly. Ron was about to refuse, but just sighed when the girl began packing her bags above their heads. 

“So who are you?” Ron inquired, not delicately.

“It’s customary to introduce yourself first,” she retorted. “But I’ll humour you since I already know who you two are. My name is Callum. And judging from your red hair, you are a Weasley. And from the scar above your eyes, you are Harry Potter.”

Ron grew red in the face, and he gestured to Harry, “see what I mean. Slytherins are all the same.”

Hermione, despite originally being muggleborn, found herself defending the Slytherin house out of the principle of fighting prejudice. “You types are so predictable, acting like you're different, but in case you forgot, the Weasley’s are part of the so-called Sacred Twenty-Eight. And Potter here is more pure than us all, being descended from the Peverells. So don’t talk to me about which families are bad or which families are good. There’s been dark people in Gryffindor and there’s been good people in Slytherin.” Thinking of Sirius, she added, “Stereotypes are meant to be broken.”

The boys were taken back by her sudden impassioned speech, and she found herself turning red. She would refrain from being so preachy from now on. It never seemed to engender any friends in the first place.

“Would you like some chocolate frogs?”

Free stuff always seemed to lighten the mood, so she was delighted when they accepted. What she did not tell them is she was offered the basket of sweets by Bulstrode shortly before. Apparently, she was already popular. Normally she would have rejected such a clear bribe, especially when she didn’t know what Millicent expected in return, but Hermione noticed very quickly into this strange episode she did not have any money. She was stocked with plenty of robes, texts, and utensils, all of it the finest quality, but she was not afforded any spending money. Hermione figured if Ron got by with only hand-me-downs, then she could manage as well.

“Want me to fix your glasses?”

Harry paused and nodded, curious by the girls’ confidence. She delicately took the item from his nose and with a quick, “Reparo!” the glasses were fixed.

She explained, “That’s the first spell you should learn and teach it to others as well who may not be that fortunate.” Hermione mentioned that because despite Flitwick’s well-meaning, they did not cover some really handy charms until the end of first year. It especially affected muggleborns who were not raised within a magical household where such charms were common.

Ron seemed to take it the wrong way, and Hermione realized she could have put it in a better fashion. 

“There’s nothing wrong with having a lot of people in your family,” she blurted, and then inwardly facepalmed. Now Ron’s ears were really turning red.

“Oh bother,” she muttered and she ignored the boys for the rest of the trip, deciding that saying nothing was safer than potentially putting her foot in her mouth for a _fourth_ time.

She wouldn’t be having this problem if she was just _Hermione_ again and not Callum Selwyn. Why did she have a boy’s name to begin with?

* * *

They lost two people that night. Not the first casualties of the new war, Cedric would fall into that category, but the war hit home in this case and made Harry realize this was not going to be a guaranteed affair. Conflict meant losses, and Harry believed the gains could never justify what happened. Especially when he was at fault.

Shacklebolt and the rest of the aurors, though they did not say it, were pleased with the outcome. Voldemort’s forces had essentially been hamstrung.

One of two of his best friends was gone, however, as well as the last of what he considered his family. To be orphaned twice was a rare tragedy.

He couldn’t believe how selfish he had been, ignoring Hermione’s concern all year, which was born out of care for him, and then she basically (judging from Umbridge’s continued absence) breaks a bigger rule than all of them in order to assist him in what he thought would be a rescue of Sirius.

He had gone over the events of this year so many times in his head, finding more and more regrets. He basically secluded himself in Grimmauld Place all summer, unmotivated despite the concern of Remus, the Weasley’s and the other Order members.

The image of Hermione remained, a cloth now draped over the phenomenon, the room cordoned off. Despite the assurances of the Unspeakables, that she was indeed gone (gone where, they couldn’t say), he worried that she was still there, unable to find peace. And if so, would she remain there, until long after they were all dead, stuck in time?

There had to be a way to make this right. And if Dumbledore didn’t have the answers, there was only one other wizard who might.

* * *

_Callum, it seemed, was something of a wild child, but Hermione learned that too late, when her mother began fretting over her unusual behavior. Apparently, Callum would spend from morning to dusk outdoors on their estate, frolicking in the fields and woods and playing in the streams. Hermione would rather spend her time inside reading a good book, but there was one problem with that proposition. Callum’s education to that point had basically gone unaddressed. Her mother, Cora Selwyn, for the most part, let Callum do whatever she wanted, as long as she used her manners._

_Hermione knew the feeling of being ignored by your parents. Both of hers had seemed more attached to their dentistry practice. However, Mr. and Mrs. Selwyn took that to a new degree. For one, she hadn’t even seen her father yet. And her mother was content to let Callum determine her own schedule and activities. Naturally, no child would elect to spend their time studying, which resulted in what was the greatest disappointment of Hermione’s life._

_Hermione early on decided to go by the family library. It was rather extensive, about the size of her old family’s townhome, so she was eager to begin investigating. She opened the first book, only to find that she had to spend up to five minutes just to decipher the first page. Callum couldn’t read! How was she to research ways to get back to her own time? Her ire immediately turned to her new mother, the lazy woman who couldn’t even take the time to teach their child a basic life function. Was her daughter’s only purpose to grow up and serve as broodmare for some other well-connected family?_

_It was this indignation that led to a confrontation which made Hermione wonder if she should instead be thankful for the neglect._

_“Mother, I am eleven years old and I cannot read worth a flip. What have you been doing?” Callum accused her mother shortly before supper._

_Cora looked puzzled at first, obviously surprised by the outburst, especially coming from a child who had so far been content with the limited time spent learning. In truth, she was not opposed to her daughter learning how to read, but she was not inclined to take the time to do it. Of course a tutor could have filled the role, but the Selwyn’s had always been different from other families in just how secluded and private they were._

_“I think, my daughter, I may have neglected more than your reading if that’s how you propose to speak to me. You have been given every leeway in your upbringing, practically a queen of your own little kingdom. Well, you are about to learn who really rules the roost.” Cora stood up from where she had been reading the paper and walked over to her daughter._

_In a snatch, Callum felt her ear being pulled and she had no choice but to follow quickly after her mother to her room. She was shoved inside, and Callum turned around to witness her mother’s final say._

_“I already wrote to your father. I have never been fond of that school, but we will do what it takes to instill some sense of society in you. You will remain here until I fetch you to take you to the Hogwarts Express. Enjoy the next two weeks.”_

_Thus Hermione found herself magically locked inside Callum’s room. Of course, she was able to console herself that at least she would be leaving this place soon, and to somewhere familiar at that._

_The last few weeks had felt like purgatory._

* * *

The Hat was unpleasant.

“You have an inquisitive mind and lots of focus. You would do well in Ravenclaw if your head wasn’t so empty.”

Hermione felt like squeezing the life out of the Hat for that remark.

“Brave too, but short of patience. There’s only one place to put you, where you might find friends with similarly lofty aspirations. Slytherin!”

Hermione numbly stood and walked over to the table. There was little applause, and lots of whispering. She estimated it would be a week before she was no longer a novelty. Watching Harry ascend to the chair, she remembered it was more like a year for him.

“Gryffindor!”

Harry’s new fellow housemates erupted, and Hermione was pleased that at least everything seemed the same with her being the only exception.

Unfortunately, she would have to amend that statement, when the professors were introduced. It was not Quirrell who held the Defense post, but someone else she did not recognize. In his thirties he was tall and had dark brown hair. There was something familiar about him, but Hermione could not put her finger on it.

  
  



	2. Time Changes Everything

The Selwyns apparently had an incredibly unique reputation. She was essentially treated like a unicorn, but also very respected by the faculty. That often gave way to exasperation when they had to repeat the instructions in class. Hermione’s face would burn and she would vow to one day impart even a degree of the humiliation she faced upon her mother.

Snape never repeated the instructions. Thus far Hermione had been able to rely on her memory. It provided her a passing grade, but to her shock, even Harry was receiving better marks. Reduced to a below average student, Hermione grew to believe this reality was punishment for some past sins. Hermione wanted the deities to know that she was indeed sorry, and that she was eager to get back in their good graces.

“Um, Callum, what are you doing here?” Harry adjusted his glasses and was more surprised than suspicious of Callum’s sudden appearance. Ron, however, was entirely belligerent.  
  
“A Slytherin, huh? Why are you following us?”

Hermione shook her head. “I wasn’t following you.” She wasn’t. Rather she was anticipating their movements, but Ron didn’t need to know that.

“Can’t believe a single thing a Slytherin says. Especially that one, Harry. My parents tell me they’re darker than the Malfoys.”

Hermione bristled. “Not a single person has accused the Selwyn’s of working with Voldemort in the last war.”

Ron scoffed. “You don’t have to be one of his followers to be the bad guy.”

Hermione thought that was one of the smartest things Ron ever said, but she was still offended. “You know Dumbledore said this hall is off limits for a reason.”

“We’re here to find out why,” Harry explained. He neglected to mention that it was her head of house under suspicion. And he also wondered how Hermione caught them right after they made it to the third floor and stashed the cloak. “Why are you here?”

“Just curious, same as you.”

Not the same, Ron mouthed, as he followed Harry to the door they saw Snape leaving.

All three entered, which turned out to be a mistake when a three headed dog emerged from a shadow at the far end of the room. 

“A Cerberus,” Hermione whispered. The creature looked angry. Hermione wasn’t worried, at least until her eyes traced the chain that was supposed to be holding him and she noticed that it had been cut near the base of the wall. “Uh, guys. We need to get out of here.”

“No kidding,” Ron muttered. “But we’re safe for now. It’s got a collar on.”

Harry stepped back. The Cerberus growling was growing louder. “I think we better listen to her. It does not look happy to see us.”

Hermione grabbed both of them by the backs of their robes and rushed them out of the room. The Cerberus was quick to jump after them. As it spent a few seconds trying to maneuver through its hulking form through the door, all three were able to get a head start sprinting down the hall.

Harry’s mind instantly thought of his ace in the sleeve, the invisibility cloak, but the Cerberus had three very large and sensitive noses and he didn’t think it would help.

Strangely, Hermione found herself in the lead. Apparently, Callum was quite athletic. That was partly the reason she thought she had a better chance trying to distract the dog. Just as it sounded like it was about to pounce upon them, Hermione twirled around and dived right. 

The Cerberus fixed its attention on the now prime target lying on the floor. The boys stopped as soon as they could and turned around too.

“Go!” Callum shouted. “Get a professor!”

Hermione’s goal had been to elude the creature, but that had paved the way to surviving the night. She didn’t care how much trouble she would be in.

The boys hesitated, their fear battling their instinct to not leave her behind.

“Ron, you go get a teacher.” Harry pulled out his wand. “We’ll distract it.”

“But-”

“Go! The longer you take the more likely we’ll die!”

Ron gulped, but he did as he was instructed. He ran down the staircase as fast as it would let him. When he got to the main floor, he began to shout, but it was distant sounds to Hermione and Harry who were left to fend for themselves.

The Cerberus was inching its fangs towards Hermione’s face. Unfortunately, when she dived, she had fumbled her wand and it laid right beside her. She didn’t trust her ability to snatch it faster than the creature could bite her head off.

Luckily, Harry was there and he tried the first spell that came to mind, the same one they practiced in class that week. “Levioso!”

The Cerberus lifted an inch off the ground and no more, but it was enough to distract it. Confused, the creature turned to who had spoken, and grew angrier if that was possible. 

With the Cerberus now clambering for the ground, the spell failed and it bounded towards Harry. Harry panicked when he realized it was fast for its size. He threw himself to the right.

“Bombarda!”

The Cerberus would have landed its attack if not for the small explosion centered on its belly, slamming the creature against the wall. The Cerberus yowled, but was nevertheless, unhurt. Harry forgotten, it now only had eyes for Hermione. It stomped its back paws on the ground, raring to pounce like a cat. 

Hermione was confident with wand in hand that she could at least last out the creature until a professor arrived. At least until a mane of fire surrounded the three heads.

“I didn’t know they could do that,” she whispered, wand feeling useless in her hand.

“Bombarda maxima!”

She supposed there was a reason a Cerberus was never covered by Hagrid on a personal scale. The spell which in the future had cleared many obstacles before with its kinetic force, did nothing against the creature’s “rage” mode. It continued its trajectory and Hermione felt her body impacting the floor. 

Trapped between its paws, Hermione turned her head away from the heat which slowly descended upon her. She couldn’t control the scream which erupted as the flaming mane licked the skin around her face and neck. The Cerberus wasn’t going to tarry much longer before finishing her off. Harry, who was kicking the creature in the back of the leg, was just an afterthought to the animal, who could get to him later.

“Bombarda!”

This spell, unlike Hermione's, was mature and had a bunch of force behind it. The Cerberus was thrown a dozen feet in the air and landed on its side. 

Snape walked briskly by them and summoned a harp which began to play music on its own.

The first spell, however, had emerged from Professor Dumbledore, who stood above the two students, Ron behind him.

Hermione, if it weren’t for the fact her face and neck was stinging like hell, would have breathed a sigh of relief. She also noticed that her arms were bleeding, more than she knew, because it was only two seconds before she passed out.

“Ordinarily, this would be grounds for expulsion. For their own safety.”

“Ordinarily, yes. But they were not the ones to release uh, Fluffy, as Hagrid calls him. They said they followed you to the room.”

“Mmm. He was chained when I left. Otherwise, I would have had a lot more to worry about than my leg.”

“We have to assume the worst.”

“I’m not going to rule out a seventh-year prank. You’re going to have to come down hard on the school. For your own reputation.”

“It will work itself out. Now, did you contact her parents?”

“I was able to reach her mother. She wasn’t going to come by until she heard that her daughter was in a restricted area. I project you will be off the hook so to speak.”

Hermione slowly blinked her eyes open. Dumbledore and Professor Snape stood beside her bed. She recognized the infirmary. She spent enough time in here once, though not as much as Harry. 

“Ah, Callum. Good to see you awake,” Dumbledore greeted her, though Hermione doubted the Headmaster did not know the first second she was conscious.

“Harry’s waiting in the lobby and he’s perfectly fine,” he continued, anticipating her question. “It was a brave thing you did, protecting the boys.”

“And very stupid,” Snape interjected.

Dumbledore acknowledged the point. “Of course, it would have been better for you to dissuade them off the path they were taking before entering the restricted area. I’m afraid I have to deduct 100 house points.”

A door creaked open in the background. Crisp footsteps echoed across the tile floor until a third figure arrived at the side of Hermione’s head. A familiar hand reached out and caressed her forehead, brushing strands of hair behind her ears.

“Ah, Ms. Selwyn, I wasn’t expecting you so soon.”

“Please, Professor, Cora is fine. ‘Ms. Selwyn’ reminds me too much of my mother. She went to Hogwarts with you. Back then she was Rebecca Mortimer. I don’t know if you remember her.”

“I do. She was a friendly girl.”

“Well, she wasn’t nice for very long. Became obsessed with her work, though I have only followed in her footsteps.”

Madam Pomfrey, who had entered with Cora, chose that moment to interrupt. “I do have a couple questions. While monitoring for injuries, we noticed several old scars, rather large, around her middle and around her lower legs.”

“You think this is the first time my daughter’s been mauled?” Cora asked quietly. She traced her finger along the bandages at Hermione’s neck. The bandages continued up her face, covering where she had been burned.

Hermione only stared at her surrogate mother.

“She was always hard to control. Anytime we let her outside, she would wander off into the woods. One time, worst came to worst, and luckily her magic protected her. But we almost lost her. I’m afraid that neither I nor my husband are that good of healers. The scars were the best we could do.” Cora sighed. “Of course, we took measures after that.” Cora’s soothing hand went to her daughter’s and squeezed reassuringly. “Maybe things will just have to go back to the way they used to be.”

Whatever that was, Hermione wasn’t interested. She opened her mouth to speak, but her mother turned to the Headmaster. “Dumbledore, may I ask you a favor?”

He tilted his head.

“Please take care of my daughter. Do whatever you feel is necessary to keep her safe. Especially from herself.” Cora glanced at Hermione one last time. “Merlin knows she needs it.”

Hermione resented the insinuation.

As Cora departed the infirmary, she called out over her shoulder. “I’m always an owl away.”

Snape, meanwhile, having been nothing more than a disinterested observer, adjusted his robes. “If you excuse me Professor.” He followed Cora out the door.

Outside in the lobby he caught Cora’s attention. “If you don’t mind, Ms. Selwyn, I am in need of guidance with a school matter concerning your daughter.” He didn’t need anything, least of all from Cora Selwyn, but you didn’t get to his position without knowing how to speak to the aristocrats. In the beginning, considering his background he felt like it was a needless nicety, but Dumbledore stressed to him that they were there to educate children, (hopeless ones at that). Part of educating them was dealing with their parents, no matter how difficult they were.

“I believe…” he cleared his throat. “Your daughter is rather intelligent, like I would expect from your family. However, she is having a hard time showing it in class considering her handicap.”

Cora wore a half-smile. “Professor Snape, if you are referring to her reading disability, it’s a small bump on the road. I trust this fine institution, as great as Hogwarts is, will be able to cover her deficiencies.”

“Reading is not part of the curriculum.”

Cora sighed. “Contrary to what you would believe of me, I didn’t purposefully neglect the child. I granted her desires. You don’t look like you would understand, Professor, but Callum has always had an untamed side, as you have begun to learn. Seriously, Professor, keep an eye on her.”

Cora, impatient to leave the grounds now, decided it was enough discussion. She had a thought and shared it prior to heading back towards the floo. “If you are so concerned, then just send her to remedial classes. You have those, don’t you?”

Professor Snape watched her depart. In fact, they didn’t have remedial classes. Although more than Callum would benefit, considering Neville’s last potion.

* * *

Hermione realized she should have expected no less from Cora Selwyn. Though for a second there, she seemed affectionate with her daughter, it was overruled by how the whole conversation she never said a word directly to her.

It shouldn’t have affected her, but Hermione remembered what a kind and caring mother felt like. And she imagined how Jean would have treated her in the same scenario. The differences were too much, apparently, as a tear threatened to escape. She missed her mother and father. Thus far, this reality had felt too surreal to even consider that her friends and family might be gone forever. The emotions chose the worst time to overcome her, she thought, as she wiped a finger across her eyes.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. “Madam Pomfrey. Why don’t you let the boys in?”

She nodded and invited the boys into the infirmary. Harry tried not to stare initially at -he wanted to say friend. Thus far they hadn’t paid much attention to Callum since the train ride. But after what she did, he believed he had no choice in the matter but to be friends. And neither did Ron.

“Um, thank you, Callum,” he said, fumbling over his words.

“Yeah, thanks,” Ron repeated, looking at the ground.

“I am sure you three have some catching up to do, so we will leave you alone,” Dumbledore smiled generously. “Oh, one more thing. “101 points to Slytherin for Callum’s selflessness. And 100 points to Gryffindor for Harry and Ron’s teamwork.”

“So that’s a net gain of zero,” Ron muttered. Harry elbowed him in the side, aware that they were getting off easy.

Once the adults had left, Harry asked, “Are you sure you’re doing okay?”

Hermione nodded. “I am. Nothing hurts.”

Ron, slowly losing his resentment of Callum specifically, followed up with, “Where did you learn to move like that?”

Harry was impressed too. On the outside, Callum didn’t look very athletic, but the way she dodged that Cerberus belied an uncommon agility.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Just how I grew up in the countryside.”

“I wish I had grown up in the country,” Ron moaned. “I would have been able to practice flying every day!”

Ron did kind of grow up in a more rural area of Britain, but he was probably alluding more to how crowded his home was and how the one broom was monopolized by all his older brothers.

It just served to remind Hermione how bad Harry’s situation was at home. She thought about inviting him to her manor the upcoming summer, but she couldn’t trust her parents with the boy who lived, regardless of their sympathies which continued to be a mystery.

“So that was your mother?” Ron continued. “She looked important.”

Hermione scoffed. “It’s only a front. All she does is stay home and go over papers in her office.”

“Do you like it at your house?” Harry, by virtue of his own experiences, could tell when someone was unhappy with their family situation. And Hermione showed all the signs.

“Well, I can’t complain.” Hermione frowned. “Outside of the obvious.” Her marks went unsaid.

“Hmm.” Harry looked closer at the one leg peeking out of the covers. “May I?” he asked, pointing at her shin.

“Sure, not like I remember it.”

Harry and Ron both satisfied their curiosity. There were four large pink streaks, what once must have been gashes, wrapping around her calf.

“Wicked,” Ron whispered.

“What did you pick a fight with? A pterodactyl?” Harry wondered.

“A tera-what?” Ron scrunched his face.

“Nothing,” Hermione replied. “It’s a muggle thing. And it was a bear, I think.”

“Well, that’s another animal to add to your list of encounters.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “I don’t plan to add another one.” It was true. She went her whole previous teenage career without a scar from wild animals, so it should be easy to avoid them from now on.

Eventually, the boys went back to their dorms and Madam Pomfrey came back inside to provide her dinner and the final potions of the day. Throughout the evening, students came and went, being treated for things like a cough and less frequently, be freed from the effects of juvenile pranks.

When 8 o’clock came around, Madam Pomfrey came to visit Hermione. Strangely, the nurse had taken to treating Callum very motherly, not that Hermione minded. It just felt weird, considering the Pomfrey she remembered. 

“A letter came for you at dinner. I forgot to deliver it to you. Now, if you need anything tonight, feel free to ring me. I don’t know what Albus was doing letting that animal into the castle.”

Hermione took the letter and opened it, wondering who it was from:

_Callum ol’ girl,_

_I heard you got into fisticuffs with a mangy mutt. I trust you showed that rotter what’s what. But I also heard you didn’t come away unscathed. Glad you’re alright. And I wish you’d be more careful. You’re the only sister I got._

_On the bright side, more war stories to share around the table. One day, we’ll fix up the cutter and terrorize the seas, the dread pirate Callum Scar and her sidekick Tybalt, the Deck Sweeper._

_See you soon._

_With love,_

_Your dear brother, Ty_

Hermione placed the letter down. She didn’t know what to make of it. Her brother seemed to be a very fanciful and carefree character. Or at least that was the charade he played with his sister. It was clear he loved her. And strangely, despite the fact she never met him, she felt reassured by that.


End file.
